• Climate change has the potential to impact everyone’s health. Every degree Celsius the world heats could have a devastating impact on global health.
• Research finds that climatic hazards, such as warming and rainfall, have exacerbated more than half of known human infectious diseases.
• We can invest in digital technology to help us track and respond to the rise of climate-sensitive infectious diseases, helping us to protect the health of communities around the world.

In the past few years, it has become increasingly clear that climate change has the potential to severely impact everyone’s health around the world. One of the greatest challenges of our time will be to better understand this growing threat so that we can help protect human health.

The Lancet Countdown report, an annual publication which is supported by Wellcome, found this year that climate change increases the risk of food insecurity, infectious diseases, and heat-related illnesses. It reported that heat-related deaths have increased by two-thirds over the past two decades. The health impacts of extreme heat were found to include exacerbating conditions such as cardiovascular and respiratory disease, causing heat stroke, and harming mental health.

Temperatures around the world broke records in 2022. The UK reached 40 degrees Celsius in July and there were new highs in parts of Europe, Pakistan and China. There have been extreme weather events including floods in Pakistan, wildfires in California and drought in the Horn of Africa.